(1) Field to which invention relates
The invention relates to a tab-strip for filing systems with a tab-strip body and a label element fixed to it with guides for receiving a label the latter of which may be put in a resting position and in a view position using a handle acted upon through an opening in the guide from the outside.
(2) The prior art
It has long been normal to make use of markers in filing systems to mark desired parts of the system. Such markers frequently have colors, letters or the like. Such markers are frequently made so that they may be slipped over another part of the system, if they are to be changed. One example of such markers are those which are able to be slipped onto parts of legal files for marking a date which is to be kept, so that once the date has been noted, the marker is put on the right part of the file and, when the date has been kept, is taken off.
However such prior markers only have a limited field of use. Firstly, it is necessary for office workers to have the right marker on hand at all times for marking filing systems. Thus, a great number of different markers must be on hand in an office to reduce the time loss in looking for the right one, and failure to mark the file may occur if the correct marker is not on hand. Furthermore, filing systems or filing material with markers which are able to be removed result in shortcomings when the files are moved from place to place, are being worked upon, etc., because the markers may come off, get in each other's way or be forcefully pulled off.
In order to cure these shortcomings, tab-strips have been designed on whose viewing side an element is placed having a number of pockets, each of which is accessible through a slot on its outside. Signal labels are placed in the pockets which have the same length as the pockets and which, near the slot, have an opening for gripping them. Using the right sort of instrument, a signal label may be gripped using the opening and may be pulled along the slot at least partly out of the pocket. In front of the pocket a transparent, bent-over part of the body of the tab-strip body forms a guide, which receives the pulled out labels acting as an end-stop for them.
To mark the material of the filing system in a certain way, it is only necessary for the right signal label to be pulled or pushed out of the pocket so that it may be readily seen under the transparent part of the tab-strip body. Thus, search for a marker as in prior systems is not necessary, because there are a great number of different sorts of markings which are on hand in the tab-strip itself. Furthermore, the bent-over transparent part of the tab-strip body safeguards the pulled out signal labels against being touched, slipped off, pulled off by force and so on, unlike normal markers of the slip-on sort.
Such prior tab-strip markers also have a number of shortcomings. One shortcoming is that the cost of manufacture of the label unit is high, because hand work is necessary. Furthermore, exact making of the pockets of the label unit with inexpensive apparatus is not possible. And, the signal labels are only guided loosely and may not be in line in the labeling position and, in the worst case, when a stack of filing cards is bumped or jarred which have such prior tab-strip markers, an incorrect signal label may come out of the labeling position into its ready position. Furthermore, all signal labels have the same width so that it is not possible, as for example with slip-on markers, to put the width of a label to use for marking purposes. Lastly, it is necessary for each piece of filing material to have the greatest number of signal labels possibly needed for marking the filing material. This not only results in a higher price for the filing material and markers where a whole number of possible markings is known to be unnecessary beforehand, but furthermore in such prior tab-strips, the label unit frequently obscures areas which otherwise could be used for writing and the like.
Furthermore, having a great number of parts placed near each other for use by an office worker makes it likely that a wrong label will be moved in error. This danger can only be avoided by care in use, if an fact each of the labels is necessary for a certain piece of the marking material. Because, however, this is not frequent, the prior tab-strips make the system more uncertain than is necessary.